San Diego News

Aztec Football Opens Season Saturday at the Q Against Northern Arizona

San Diego, California - SDSU Aztecs Open Season Saturday at the Q Against Northern Arizona

San Diego State opens its 92nd season of football, 46th at the Division I level, the 16th as a member of the Mountain West and the fourth under head coach Rocky Long on Saturday, Aug. 30, against Northern Arizona.

The 2014 season opens against Big Sky-member and No. 25 (FCS) Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks have won 17 of their last 22 games, with a 17-14 victory at UNLV in 2012 included during that run.

The opener will mark San Diego State’s only home game during a 28-day in-season period. The Aztecs follow the lidlifter with a road game at North Carolina, a bye week and a road game at Oregon State, before returning home to play host to UNLV on Sept. 27.

San Diego State has advanced to a school-record four consecutive bowl games and is one of only 29 schools nationally and the only school to advance to bowl games following the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Mountain West campaigns. From the state of California, only SDSU and Stanford have played in four consecutive bowl games.

The Aztecs and Lumberjacks are meeting for the third time, but for the first since 1966. SDSU completed a home-and-home sweep of NAU, winning in Flagstaff, 20-0, in 1965 and at Aztec Bowl, 16-8, in 1966.

San Diego State is 46-40-5 all-time in season openers, including a 21-23-1 mark in the Division I era. The Aztecs are 18-6-1 since 1969 (Division I era) when the lidlifter is at home. The Aztecs are looking to win their season opener for the first time since 2011.

San Diego State ended the 2013 campaign by winning eight of its final 10 games, culminating in a 49-24 victory over Buffalo in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. SDSU’s 8-2 record since Sept. 28, 2013, is tied for the 10th best record in the country over that time frame. Other teams that posted an identical 8-2 record in that span were Alabama, Baylor, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon.

Rocky Long, the all-time Mountain West leader in coaching victories, enters his fourth season as head coach of the Aztecs and his sixth season in the program. The two-time conference coach of the year has 25 wins in his first three seasons on the Mesa, matching Claude Gilbert for the most coaching wins through three seasons.

Ticket Information / Saturday Details

The game is scheduled to kickoff at 4:04 p.m. PT.

Individual-game tickets start at $12 and are available 24 hours a day at GoAztecs.com. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Qualcomm Stadium ticket office (Monday-through Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., ticket office opens at noon).

SDSU will honor Baseball Hall of Famer and former Aztec baseball Coach Tony Gwynn with a pregame ceremony beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m. PT. Members of the Gwynn family, including his wife (Alicia) and son (Tony) will be on the field and serve as the honor warrior for the game.

The first 20,000 fans in attendance will receive Tony Gwynn stickers. Additionally, 2,000 t-shirts will be given away at the student tailgate, located at C1 of the parking lot. A pre-game carnival will also take place in the parking lot.